In the Matter of Business Data Services Regulation

After an exhaustive and detailed search for data regarding the availability of business data services, the results are clear: virtually all American businesses have access to business data services (hereinafter, “BDS”) and the level of competition, spurred in large measure by the rapid entry of cable into this market, is growing, almost on a daily basis. There is simply no justification for intrusive, ex ante regulation, and particularly not for price regulation in a market that, by the Commission’s own data, is working and competitive.

Further, regulation of the BDS market is in no way necessary to achieve the deployment of 5G technology and would in fact skew and slow deployment. The nature of 5G technology — the development of which is still in process — equally argues against imposing regulation on the BDS market, as does the need to deploy 5G throughout rural America, which would be delayed by this regulation.